Leafs-Bruins highlights a busy Thursday night

NHL.com

Toronto's Phil Kessel, off to one of the fastest starts of any player in the NHL, will try to do something on Thursday that he failed to do all last season -- score a goal against his old team.

Kessel, who was traded to Toronto by Boston just over a year ago, went scoreless in six games against the Bruins as a Leaf. He'll try to break that slump when he and his teammates come to TD Garden for the first meeting of the season between the Northeast Division rivals. Game time is 7 p.m. ET.

Two of the other seven games on the schedule also get under way at 7. Florida, a 3-1 loser at Toronto on Tuesday, continues a swing through Eastern Canada with a stop in Ottawa. Edmonton, which lost 5-4 in a shootout at Calgary in Tuesday, visits Columbus.

At 7:30, Phoenix visits Detroit. The Wings are off to a 5-1-1 start that includes a 2-1 OT win at Phoenix 12 days earlier. The Coyotes come off a 5-2 loss at Ottawa on Tuesday.

At 8 p.m., the Nashville Predators, the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss, try to continue that streak when they host St. Louis. Also, the Washington Capitals try for their first victory ever at the Xcel Energy Center when they visit the Minnesota Wild. The Caps, 3-0 winners at Carolina on Wednesday, are 0-4-1 all-time at St. Paul. The game will be shown by the NHL Network in the United States.

A half-hour later, the Dallas Stars host Los Angeles. Both teams are coming off losses: The Kings lost 3-1 at Chicago on Wednesday, while the Stars were beaten 5-2 by Anaheim a night earlier.

In the evening's final game, Colorado visits Calgary in a game that starts at 9:30 p.m. ET and will be aired on TSN. The Avs lost 4-3 in overtime at Vancouver on Tuesday -- and lost starting goaltender Craig Anderson to a knee injury suffered during warmups.

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I don't have a crystal ball. Predicting is a real complicated thing. If we stay healthy, have enough depth and get the good goaltending we think we're going to have, you can go all the way. But a lot of things have to happen. There's going to be a lot of teams that think the same thing. Everyone made deals. We're all are optimistic about where we'll end up.

— Rangers general manager Glen Sather after being asked if he's constructed a team that can win the Stanley Cup before their 4-1 win against the Predators on Monday